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Title: Simple Tallow Soap
Categories: Soap *
Yield: 1 Batch
| 1 1/2 | c | Melted tallow |
| 1/2 | c | Olive oil |
| 6 | oz | Cold water |
| 4 | tb | Lye |
Melt some tallow in the oven at around 150øF. Measure appropriate quantity into glass caserole dish and save the rest for the next batch. Add olive oil, and stir to mix. Set dish in a 95øF water bath to cool.
Add lye to cold soft water, using an old mason jar as a vessel. You can soften hard water with a few drops of ammonia, or a few grains of Boric acid (Borax) or use distilled water. Stir quickly after adding lye to water, with a wooden utensil. Set lye solution in water bath to cool.
When fat and lye are lukewarm slowly add the lye solution to the fat, stirring constantly with a wooden utensil.
Now, the mixture will become cloudy immediately, but may not thicken for up to an hour. Stir constantly for 15 minutes. You can then take a break, if necessary, for 2-3 minutes, but return to stirring until the mixture rehomogenizes. Soap is ready to pour into the mold when it's thick enough to support an object stuck into it, that spoon you're holding, for instance. The consistency is somewhere between whipped cream and cake frosting.
Carefully pour into molds, and set in a warm place, covered, to continue the reaction. In 24 - 48 hours, remove from molds and stack bars on a plate pyramid style to cure.
Cure for 2 - 4 weeks and then store. Homemade soap has a higher water content than store bought soap, and also a higher glycerine content (a natural by product of the reaction). This means that the soap bars can dehydrate and decline in quality if just left out for months on end.
If an ash forms on the surface, just scrape it off with the dull side of a knife before showing off your work. You'll find soap is easy to carve, but scrape, rather than cut the surface for a perfect finish. Wiping with a linen cloth, or scoring the surface with a serrated blade makes for truly presentable bars. Every bar of soap is unique.
Touching the soap to your tongue is a good test for completed curing; if there's no "burn," it's ready to use.
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